Roads Past Taken
by wizard4hire
Summary: Another OC story, this time Spitfire's past is coming back to haunt him. Separated from any friends, he falls in with three fringe-dwelling Transformers that must decide to help him or turn him over to those that want him dead.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**  
This story features three characters, Enigma, Synthes and Cloudnine, that belong to my friend, known on deviantART as Towerte. I thank her for letting me write them.

Sometimes I like to take time to myself and think about how things have piled up. How my choices have led me down a path. How others might have been affected by them. Not always the brightest trail of thought, but it might help me avoid some of the worse decisions later on. I'd have to have another one of those ponders soon, assuming I survive bein' beaten by these five.

Carbide was the largest of everyone here. Probably could have benched pressed a planet the way he exercised. Once he got in 'the moment' however, he became a brand new kind of monster. Currently, he was in a calm mood, laughing a little as he threw me through the wall. They had beaten me while climbing this abandoned spire in this as abandoned city and I now had a nice view of the star filled sky. Not bad as last views go.

"You holdin' back? I don't want that," he said, pulling me up to punch me to the ground again. Pointless.

Then Breechload appeared and started to kick me. Scrawny for a Decepticon, he had a large sniper rifle on his back and a retractable zoom lens on the side of his head. I never really knew him to be up front when it came to the dangerous work, always the last one for that stuff. Its why he prefers to fire that gun from miles away. He was also bad at close range, his kicks were doing little but annoying me. I was just happy he was the quiet type right now.

"Let off. I want him to fight," Carbide said, pulling Breechload back.

"I don't. Makes this easy." In comes Blast Cap and his billy-clubs. Less annoying but very much more painful than the kicking. I knew he liked blowing things up, but for Primus' sake, he somehow made his clubs detonate with a small explosion with each hit. Like a glancing shot from a gun, but in succession they were taking a toll. I kicked his leg out from under him and stood, backing from them. "Oi! Now he's fighting." I wasn't.

"I'll stop him, you baby," Crash-Dive moved forward, pushing Blast Cap aside. He grabbed me and threw me to the ground twice and stomped on my back. He came close to being Carbide's size and even though he transformed a marine vehicle, he wasn't out of place with this lot. But then pure strength and ruthlessness could always get one very far with the Decepticons. He pulled me up to at least my knees and let go, Carbide moving to my other side. Breechload and Blast Cap stayed back to flank the last one, their leader, Dragline.

"Given all you've done, that you are just giving up… I'm very disappointed," he said. He was a little taller than me, a little broader than me and a damn sight angrier than I've ever been. Most of him was a dark grey like a shadow on a wall with red accents here and there. What was once a miners helm was now well suited for the soldier he had become. And I know… It's not fair talking about one guy more than the others, but he's the driving force behind the other's violence. He gestured for Carbide to take hold of me and Crash-Dive drew his trident. "I expected more trouble from you after you've killed so many of us."  
Dragline was trying to get something out of me beyond my extinguished spark casing. An apology, some fear or pleading, maybe just something to keep this from being a one-sided ending to a story he had planned out. Couldn't say I was up for any of ending these guys would come up with. And I didn't want to fight back. Five-on-one are terrible odds, but that wasn't it.  
"Nothing to say for all you've done? Not one last spark of defiance before we send you off?" I was a little committed to giving him nothing so I just offered more silence. Dragline sneered a little and Crash-Dive ran me through with the trident. Now, if you ever get impaled, its alright if you don't tough it out, it hurts like hell. Especially if you get lifted into the air, because then your internals are being used as leverage and the pain ramps up quite a bit. With the gang laughing, me hissing through my teeth and sliding down towards Crash-Dive and Dragline ready to drag this out, he says, "Have you nothing left for your friends, Spitfire?"

"Sorry," I said before I slammed my palms against Crash-Dive's head, got a good grip and twisted his head until it was very loose in my hands. His body collapsed and I landed on my feet enough to do a quick assessment. Crash-Dive was down, Carbide was right on my flank but shocked out of his comfort zone, Dragline was yelling in horror, Breachload was still a little shocked at how things turned out and Blast Cap was swearing. We were on a rickety spire in an abandoned multi-layered city called Xericon or something and they were dragging out my murder to exact revenge for killing someone in self-defense just like now only then it was one on one. So I hopped over the railing and started to fall.  
Looking down, my slim chance at survival was looking slimmer and slimmer. I mean yeah, they were going to kill me, that was a given. But in my head I had convinced myself I could probably survive falling off of a giant building. Wishing obviously wasn't doing, so I drew my axe and swung it into the side of a building. The energon powered weapon cut through the old wreck like it wasn't even there, leaving a molten scar behind, or above. Whichever. All that mattered was that I was slowing a little, so that was good. Then the building ran out because a sloping design that looked pretty but was screwing me over at present. Free fall. Crashing straight through a balcony. That sent me into a diagonal spiral where I kept bouncing into another building with a slope, only now it was at a downward angle. Almost like sliding down a hill only less fun. Then I hit my left temple on something and my optic went dark. Not good. Though my other optic was just fine and as I was tumbling around I could have sworn the gap between the buildings I was bouncing off of were getting smaller. Then the trident began to catch on the buildings. Then the other end of the poll. I put tried to put my legs out to one building to slow myself and take the pressure off my innards. Worked out great until the poll snapped and I wasn't ready for it. Back to free fall. Two more balconies. A very poor swing with the axe I could probably blame on the recently ruined depth perception and repetitive concussions. So I retracted it before I could cut my own head off. Balcony. A growing hatred of balconies. Taste of energon that was another bad sign. All through this, I could see the ground floor coming up fast. I just had one last balcony to slow my decent and then a fall of a couple of stories until the ground. I turned so my left side was facing the ground as it was already pretty banged up, I mean how damaged could something get, right? Wait, that didn't sound right.

WHAM.

I hit the ground so hard I was sent to a dimension where pain was god and I was the prophet of its return. The taste of energon still in my mouth brought me back to the real world. I opened my optics and took in my surroundings.  
Xericon, or whatever, had seen better days. What was once a humble marketplace could have been called a riot's aftermath now. The war surly didn't care about the lives made here, it just rolled over all in the path whether it needed to or not. Looking up, I was marveling at my luck. The fall should have killed me. So either I'm very well put together, super lucky, immortal, or terribly unlucky. I was ruling out the last one because my tormenters were completely out of reach for the foreseeable future. I liked when Decepticons couldn't fly, couldn't lord it over anyone.  
However, the unlucky theory was an option given my state. From my left shoulder down, I was still in that pain dimension. Left optic wasn't giving me anything, but I could feel it move with my right, so it could be fixed. The rest was a pulsing ache, save the remaining bit of trident that had scrambled the internals during the impalement and the fall. I could also see a growing pool of energon from the wound and it felt like it was running down the lucky left side of my face whenever I lifted my head. No radio and no one to contact in a dead city. iSo why was I hearing voices./i  
I propped myself up very slowly. The world whirled around for a minute and then I tried standing. I listed over and caught the wall. _Okay, now one foot in front of the other._ I was limping on the left side, surprise, surprise, but I was moving. Looking down at myself was little comfort so I faced forward. A paranoid look back showed only my energon soaked footprints. _No, focus on the voices._

"…C'mon, you know it is completely weird."

"It really isn't."

"Yes it is! We use the name for what we mine, what we eat, what we use as a power source for all of our stuff, and our lifeblood. They should be called their own thing, not just 'Energon'. It's confusing."

"It's not. There are clearly defined procedures for each, but its all the same stuff, anyway."

"So if I took the energon from my gun I could eat it straight up without a problem because it's the same?"

"No, you'd probably blow a gasket or something."

"So they're different?"

"I'm not falling for that. Energon is energon, just some refined for this and some is refined for that."

"Then they should have different names."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Nn- Did you hear that?"

"Is that a trick to get me to say 'no'? Because you know I'm not dumb."

"I'm serious. I know someone's here."

"You're crazy. There's only three of us. You, me and… And…" He was trailing off as he got a look at me. Primus knows what he was thinking. His companion turned and I could see something was odd about them. Both were very solid, tall and broad bots. One had midnight blue and dark grey coloring and the other was honey brown and the same grey. Blue had purple optics and Honey had yellow. Blue had three plates, one on each side of his head and the third on top of it, all were flat and swept back. Yellow had two protrusions from his forehead and they hugged his helm, sloping back like Blue's plates. Other then that, they were identical, same build, same armor shape, face shape. It was eerie. Blue found his voice again and said, "Uh… Four of us."

"Are… You okay?" Yellow asked in mild horror.

"Oh.. This?" I said with a smile I shouldn't have had. I coughed and a mist of energon came out with the breath. _Maybe he had a point._ "You should see the other guy."

"Was the other guy atomized?" Blue asked, stepping forward. I knew he was going to help me walk and I wasn't going to stop him. Yellow was on my other side without a word, but he was there as a just in case. I was very grateful he wasn't touching me, I'm sure it would have been very tender. "How are you even standing?"

"Two legs, sense of balance." I was weirdly caviler now. I shouldn't have been, I don't normally joke when energon is spilling. Maybe I was punch drunk or something. "Who're you?"

"I'm Synthes," the bot formally known as Yellow said. "And this is my brother, Enigma."

"Spitfire. Nice to meet you guys. You're both very nice."

"You hardly know us," Enigma said.

"Yeah… But I get feelin's, you know? Also, you are for sure the two nicest bots I've talked to today."

"Speaking of, who did this to you?" Synthes asked, "And why are you out here?"

"This place was deserted," Enigma said, not giving me the chance to speak, "So it provides shelter from rust storms, cover from reconnaissance, and best of all, solitude from those who would judge."

"Now you're just showing off."

"Not done showing off either. I'm also going to say multiple Decepticons, because you're an Autobot, but not enough of them to cause a big stir. We would have found out about them if there were too many. So… Three to seven. Ten, if they're really sneaky."

"Five," I corrected.

"Heh… So only the why is escaping me." They were both looking to me for answers. I was starting to feel up for anything really, pain had gone very numb, just one or two sharp jabs, but even that was fading. "Hey, Spitfire. Stay awake." I felt like responding, but that just seemed like too much work. The world faded more and more while the Twins whispered at me. Or were they shouting, hard to focus on that. Whatever was going on, I felt like I could forget about the pain I was in, the pain I had caused, pain yet to come.  
 _Yeah, genius, you'll also forget about your friends. A chance for more than this war offered._  
The war wasn't going to end. We'll kill each other and the last one standing would be a wreck of a person. And what friends?  
 _Torrent, for one. She's probably trying to find you now._  
Yeah, Ren never gave up on anything. But I'm not her. And the world was already far away now.  
 _That didn't stop you after you fell off of the building. Now get up._  
I'm being carried. Or something. Doesn't feel like I'm moving…  
 _Then wake up._

I opened my one optic and became aware of a body wide numbness. My other optic was moving but it seemed weighted down and I still couldn't see anything from it. Looking over I would have thought I was One with the Allspark as I was looking at a beautiful femme. She was a pristine white with brilliant blue coloring on her armor and in her optics. I was reminded of stories I had heard of guardians for deities, shepherds of mortal races and escorts of souls. She did look a little small, maybe smaller than Torrent, and she was looking at me with a striking gaze and… I've never thought this way about anyone. Probably whatever was numbing me. I wasn't passing on, I was in recovery. She turned her head and called, "I told you he wasn't dead. You owe me a quart of engex."

"I remember." I looked and saw Enigma sitting on the far side of the room we were in. Synthes looked to be in the middle of some repair work on some sort of transmitter when I woke up, but he turned has attention when she spoke. Enigma stood and walked over to the femme. "He still looks like scrap."

"Well I do fantastic work with what I have none the less," she said, looking at him with a smirk and a slight bump of her shoulder. She turned to me and with a gentle smile she continued, "Hello. I'm Cloudnine, and don't worry! I am a professional medic, I've fixed up a lot of bots worse off than you."

"Yeah, this one guy got chopped into three pieces. So gross. But that was a while ago, the worst thing she's dealt with before you was my arm getting torn off," Cloudnine stuck her tongue out at him and he put an arm around her, "But seriously Spitfire, you couldn't be in better hands."

"Thank you, all of you," I said. My voice was croaky, probably the painkillers, "Where are we?"

"We got you to our little hideaway. We're still in Xerra Core, if you wanted specifics."

"Right…" I did want specifics. Dragline and his crew were probably looking for me by now. And Torrent might run into them. "What are you three doing out here?"

"Oh… This and that," Synthes said, coming over to stand with his brother. _Odd._

"Well, have you seen a blue femme? She'll be looking for me."

"We haven't done anything but get parts for C to save you and sit around," Enigma said, "We were about ready to leave when you found us. And now you're too messed up to move and we can't leave you unguarded."

"You two could look," Cloudnine said, "He'll be safe with me."

"Not alone," Enigma said flatly.

"Of course not, I'll have him!" she counted with a smile and a wink at me. _Odder._

"Spitfire… Is your friend capable?" Synthes asked, "Like, could she be okay on her own while she looks for you?"

"Yeah… She's done dangerous stuff before all alone. But I don't like it, not with Dragline around."

"Who's Dragline?" Cloudnine asked.

"Probably the one who did this to him," Enigma said, narrowing his optics at me. It was weird, like he was trying to read me as someone else would read a data pad, "Why does he want you dead?"

"It's a long story." I said, turning away a little.

"We've obviously got the time."

"'Long story' is code for 'I don't want to tell it'."

"I know. And I don't care. We're risking our lives for you, we can at least know why." _Damn…_ I turned to face them. It was like looking at a family, one that wanted to know why I was half dead in a ghost town of a metropolis. I did owe 'em, and if they could find Torrent, I'd better tell them.

"Okay, can I sit up? I want us all to be comfortable." The three of them all together sat down by my little bunk as I propped myself up. Cloudnine was leaning into Enigma's torso and Synthes was on Enigma's other side and they were looking up at me like sparklings wanting to hear a tale about the Knights of Cybertron. I smiled slightly at the thought. "Okay, so this story, like a lot of good ones, starts in a hole in the ground."

"No they don't," Cloudnine said, " They start with explosions and colors and energon spilling everywhere!" _Oddest._

"Well this one doesn't have that till midway, so at least it builds."


	2. Chapter 2

Back then I didn't have a name and Mining Unit - 23180643 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. MU-643 isn't any better. Also, I forget the other serial numbers most of my fellows were called, so as I move through this story, I'll just call people as they're called now. We were all stationed on Merrok 7, the largest moon of a gas giant not far from Cybertron. We had been exploiting it for centuries, the hard rock mining of generations crafting tunnels so wide and so deep it took thousands of us working in teams to get any further, carving at the rock for the energon that we sent to Cybertron to do with as it pleased. I hadn't seen my home world since I was assigned my caste and that was so long ago I had all but forgotten it. Hell, I forgot just about all of my life before the day the War came to us.  
We were a crew of twelve, ten of us were workers and most of us were unnamed. Dragline was our foreman. He was a good bot back then, worked us hard but always knew we could handle it. Also liked getting rowdy drunk back then. The twelfth was Powerline and he tended to be the one who complained the most. His job was to detect and find the energon, determine its concentration and then ship it off for processing. Beyond that, Powerline did little. He was board by life here and for the most part none of us knew any better.  
Blast Cap had a name too, if only for his enthusiasm for his task of handling explosives. Crash-Dive and Carbide were the heavy lifters, with Crash-Dive being around just in case we found underground caverns full of fluid and Carbide was the single strongest of us. Breechload and Spade were the smallest and they were usually sent into the more dangerous and unstable tunnels in the hopes they could survive and find a way out. That left Tremor, Crosschop, Sawdust, Stope, and myself, unnamed and uninteresting as we were almost identical in build to one another, except for our paint schemes and helms. The five of us ran the gambit of medium to tall and built for endurance. Cast is set, now the opening scene in our elevator from the surface.

"Did you guys hear about the stirrings?" Powerline asked. We never did, he was the first to hear about anything off-world.

"What stirrings?" Spade asked. Always the most curious. And the most haphazard.

"Autobots are getting rolled over. The big war's gonna end any day now." This was about the tenth time he's made that prediction.

"And what does that have to do with us?" Dragline asked. As far as we knew, the War on Cybertron was too far away to even have an impact. Whoever ran our mine didn't care enough to stop, speed up, or alter any of the operations. We were just supposed to keep working, let the war pass like a bad day. Only a few people couldn't let it go. Powerline for sure. The big stories of a miner rising above his station caught his imagination, maybe a little more. Dragline was doing his best to keep us on task, but as it was the only thing of interest beyond chipping away at rock he couldn't keep us from gossiping. "You keep going on about this war being this, the war's doing that. None of it matters. That's Cybertron, we're here.

"Bah… So close minded," Powerline scoffed, "Gotta think beyond this… hole. Soon, this will be a thing of the past. We won't be here."

"Because your glorious Megatron will set it all right, eh?" Blast Cap said. He always was the first to tease anyone, "I keep hearing how the Autobots turn the tide at the last second."

"How long can they keep that up?"

"Long as they need to from the sounds of it," I said. I don't know what made me speak up. Maybe I was a little tired of one side being spoken of so highly. No idea what the hell was going on there, but I was interested.

"Don't be naive, its only a matter of time." Powerline was very convinced of the Decepticon victory but as he was our sole source of information on the topic, his opinion was very bias.

"Alright guys, enough talk, time to work," Dragline cut in. He was a taskmaster, for sure, but Dragline also was the first to check in on us if we weren't right. Proud of his crew and what we could do. We exited the elevator and got to chipping away. We were very lucky that day, found one hell of a vein and were taking away energon by the arm load. A couple of the guys liked to pretend to be prospectors, independent and able to claim what they dug up. All well and good, except we didn't own a thing. Our tools were given to us at the start of the day and returned at the end. We had a metal slab and a tube for a recharge station. Only thing I liked about it was the sky, got a great view of the cosmos from that slab. Only got to see it every other day, almost made the work worth it. Its exactly what I worked for, that open sky.

"Great haul so far," Carbide said, letting the crystals of energy slip through his fingers into a shipping container, "Wonder if some of this will be eaten by whoever's up top."

"Probably one of Powerline's precious Decepticons," Crash-Dive said. That got a laugh out of everyone except Powerline who shook his head in contempt. Then there was a thud from above. We all looked up, seeing only the cavernous space above us ending in a curved ceiling. No explanation of any kind. Then another thud, this one shaking stones loose.

"Okay, everyone to the escape shaft, now!" Dragline called. We always practiced this drill, just in case of a collapse, but there was no reason for these tremors. The moon was geologically dead, its why Cybertron seeded the place with energon so long ago, no one else was using this rock. And this dig sight passed its structural safety exam very recently. So I was wondering what the hell was going on when Dragline grabbed me by the arm and tugged me along, "No time for daydreaming, move!"  
So I did. This was the damnedest thing and it was totally outside my norm. Won't lie, it was the first time I was scared. We got to the elevator and the thudding was really beginning to sound like explosions, as though another team was blasting their way to our section. Only the nearest team was about forty miles away, working in the opposite direction. So my question of, "Who the hell is doing this?" was answered as a portion of the wall blew out into the mine. Bits of rock few out and a red and blue Cybertronian walked out. He rose to stand taller than most and looked like he was built for heavy duty work. His blue head had two antennae that swept back slightly and his silver faceplate hid all but his blue optics. On each shoulder was the insignia of a face, a symbol so old I remember seeing it once before I was sent to this mine. He retracted his rifle into his arm and took a passive stance before us.

"Is everyone of this sector gathered here?" he asked, his deep voice resonating with authority, intelligence and, as I learned over time, a twinge of sadness.

"Yes, and just who the hell are you?" Dragline said, stepping forward, "And what the hell is going on?" The explosions didn't stop and one of them was starting to sound closer and closer.

"The war has come to Merrok. I am here to get your crew to safety. My name is-" An explosion cut him off. We all looked up as three sleek Cybertronians stood in the entrance to the tunnel they just made. The one in the forefront was a mostly red and white bot with a black head, angled plates on his back bits of gold here and there on his armor. At his sides were two bots just as sleek only one was blue with red and the other was black with purple. They all had the angled plates that I would learn were their wings. The one who was trying to take us to safety went behind some rubble. Apparently, the Decepticons and Autobots were converging into our mine shaft.

"Miners of Merrok 7," the red one said with a voice that was a little grating on the auto sensors, "I am Starscream, Air Commander of the Decepticon Empire and I bare grand tidings. By the will of Lord Megatron, you are liberated from the oppressive caste of a fallen Senate. Now is your chance to rise up against your oppressors and take the fight to Cybertron. Welcome to the Decepticon Army!"

"Yes!" Powerline said, walking past Dragline, who did try to hold him back, "I knew the Decepticons would find us. My name is Powerline, Commander, and there's an Autobot right over there." Powerline pointed to where our would-be rescuer had hid himself. I looked at the rest for a reaction to this and I saw nothing. Apparently, I was the only one who was against this.

"Excellent, Powerline," Starscream said, beginning to hover over, and preparing his weapons. The two at his flank also began to hover and it looked like two more Decepticons moved up to guard their tunnel. "Show yourself coward! Face your death like a Decepticon would."

"If you insist, Starscream," the Autobot said, standing and facing the Decepticons, holding his rifle up and ready to aim at the Decepticons, "I cannot allow you to conscript these miners."

"Optimus Prime!?" The Decepticon had a twinge of fear cross his expression and voice. His two flying friends looked between themselves, also nervous. "Well, I don't see you stopping us. In fact… I have a better idea. Let's give them the chance to prove themselves worthy of us." Starscream turned to us with a smile I was really not liking, "Powerline, if you feel yourself dedicated towards our cause, convince your fellows to turn on… The Autobot. We'll be waiting for you to bring his head." Starscream turned to his flying aids and whispered to them before transforming into a jet and flying through the tunnel. His fellow fliers took up a place by their tunnel to watch us, weapons at the ready.

"Well, sorry about this, Autobot" Powerline said, taking up a pick-axe for the first time in his life. "Come on now, guys. Don't make me look like a chump."

"Wait a minute," I said stepping between him and Optimus, "You can't just kill him. He came here to save us."

"The Decepticons are the ones here for the rescue, kid. He just wants to take us back to send us to another mine."

"No, I wouldn't," Optimus said, retracting his rifle once he was convinced the Decepticons weren't going to shoot him. "I'll escort you to a neutral settlement; you can make your way in whatever endeavor you choose. The Decpticons will either force you into their army or kill you."

"Well this, what they've come to give, is exactly what I want," Powerline said with a smile. He then looked at us and his smile took on a twist I hated, "And he wants the safety of his crew. Don't you, Dragline?" I looked to Dragline, really hoping for some support, some guidance away from the madness. With a life experience of breaking rocks and moving energon, I just knew killing someone like this was wrong. Later on I'd find more reasons to not kill someone, but for now I was sure this wasn't right. Dragline would agree, he had to. But he was busy looking at the Decepticons and their tunnel, weapons primed and ready.

"Get out of our way," he said finally, picking up a spade gesturing for the rest to do the same, "It's him or us." One by one, some more enthusiastic than others, the crew was now armed in various ways with mining equipment. Save for me. Looking at Optimus, I noticed he hadn't drawn his weapon and remained standing still. I remember thinking, iScrap me, he won't fight back./i I grabbed a discarded spade for myself and held it up. Dragline faltered a little, "You owe him nothing. Put that down and get out of our way. You don't have to help, you don't have to watch, but you need to move."

"No." My hands were shaking and I was most definitely scared to death, but my voice was very steady. "He doesn't deserve this. And I won't just let you do hurt him."

"Why don't you tell us why?" Powerline said, very fed up with my sudden attitude, "Come on, you little spitfire, tell us why we shouldn't kill this pawn of the Senate?"

"You said the Senate was overthrown a while ago. There's no one to use him as a pawn."

"You're naïve."

"And you're biased," I spat back, "All you've ever talked about was how great the Decepticons are and what good they were bringing to us. Well, they want us for a war. He-" I nodded at Optimus, "-wants us to be out of their fight. You said the Decepticons would have us free, not force us to kill our way out. My freedom isn't worth a life."

"Well you were never worth much," Powerline said, taking a swing at my head. I brought the shovel up to block and his attack bounced off without much impact. He really should have given actual work a try. Crash-Dive then rushed forward but Optimus swatted his improvised weapon aside and punched him into Carbide. Then bolts of energy came from a high angle, the Decepticons were firing on the two of us, but luckily they weren't hitting anything but rock.

"Back to the tunnel, now!" Optimus said, now extending a sword from one arm and cutting some of the improvised weapons to pieces as they were jabbed at him. I threw Powerline back and ran for the tunnel, Optimus right after me, I looked back and saw Dragline staring at me, not joining the fight and planting his spade into the ground. Optimus shot the tunnel ceiling and the rocks fell to cut them off. I slowed down and Optimus once more withdrew his weapons, looking at me. "I am sorry. Had we the time, I would have told them the truth."

"Powerline had his truth for a while. I'm just sorry for are the rest," I said, resting my shovel on my shoulder, looking down, "He's had all this time to build up the Decepticons. Had a feeling it was too good to be true."

"Perhaps," Optimus said pensively, "Until I can get you to an evacuation shuttle, you had better stay close… I'm sorry, I missed your name."

Like I said, I never had one. And even without knowing the significance the name 'Optimus Prime' had at the time, and what it would garner in the future, saying my name was MU-643 didn't sit well. Then one of Powerline's last words to me came back and it stuck. "Spitfire, sir. My name is Spitfire. And don't worry about me. I can stay alive long enough to get out of here. And there are others to keep from the Decepticons."

"Very well," Optimus said with a nod, and though his face was hidden, I had a feeling he was smiling, "There is another mine within driving distance. If we hurry, we can beat the Decepticons and hopefully get them to safety. Transform and roll out!"

He and I spent almost three days running around those tunnels. We usually arrived in a mine after the Decepticons, so most of the time he fought them off while I pulled miners out of the way and to Autobots that arrived after us. When we had finished, we went to the surface and I helped load refugees while a black and white bot yelled at Optimus for being reckless in going off alone. True to his word, Optimus sent us all to a neutral settlement, giving me some time to learn more about the war. The Decepticons were in the right at the start, but once they did what they promised and tore down the corrupt and oppressive Senate, they just kept going. Now they were trying to spread their rule over everything they could grab. Now the Autobots, originally fighting to hold the establishment together, were fighting to reign the Decepticons in. I also spent time finding out what others in the settlement were going to do. A few people in the settlement were planning on leaving Cybertron altogether. Others still were trying to figure out how to join the 'Cons. But I knew where I was going. I found out who Optimus Prime really was, to Cybertron and the Autobots. That's when I was truly won over to the Autobot cause. Their leader had risked his own life for miners he had never met and probably only found out about recently. I went to the closest camp of theirs and started my training.  
About a year into my time as an Autobot, I ran into Stope in the middle of a battle. He kept trying to mouth off, get me to fight him. I didn't take his bait, but he shot me and I had to shoot back. I passed it off as bad luck and a very bad day. I didn't start paying attention to what happened to my old crew until I ran into Spade. Or rather, he sought me out. The Decepticon hierarchy didn't treat him as well as Dragline or Powerline, and he was a grave digger. Spade tried to take me by surprise and advance himself only to be needing a grave for himself. After that, I asked about the rest of my crew. A few Autobots pointed me to the Diplomatic Corps as they had traveled all around and, though this was more murmured and implied than outright said, they also tended to know more than they should have. But they were friendly enough and generous with their information.  
Tremor, Crosschop and Sawdust got wiped out in that first year, but Dragline and the rest were becoming a very effective combat unit. Powerline was on his own, off on recruitment and the occasional interrogation. Caught him once on a mission for the Wreckers but we captured him along with half a dozen of the surviving Decepticons. I'm happy when I don't have to kill anyone. But the Autobots returned him in a prisoner exchange almost a decade later. Didn't see or hear about Powerline until a week ago. I had all but forgotten about him and the rest, had a lot of other things on my mind. Friends, fallen or distant, were my main worry. Also my job of running around, finding and securing relics of the past or weapons of the present. That's how I crossed paths with Powerline again.  
I was on a simple patrol of the edge of the Sea of Rust. Rumors of scavengers were growing and my commander was convinced they may have stumbled onto something that needed safeguarding. I thought they were just trying to find a way to survive. Most of those who had the means to leave had done so by then, meaning everyone that got left behind either became fodder for the war, went nuts, or had very little to live upon.

As I approached their shelter that looked to be made out of panels of a fallen starship, I found one of their number dead. He was overcharged to the point of optic burst and spark failure, a very painful way to go. And with the multiple scorch marks, it was clear he was tortured before his overload. Looking off I saw another dead Cybertronian, also overloaded to death. And a third. Then a scream from inside the improvised shack. Rifle drawn, I carefully and quietly moved forward and risked a peek inside. There were three Cybertronians, one was on her knees in what looked like a pleading posture but her arms were in stasis cuffs. The second was currently being electrocuted by a heavily modified shock prod being held by the third, Powerline.

"You know, the other three were just as stubborn," he said, stalking around the poor guy on the ground and talking to the unharmed one, "Why set up out here if you're not hiding something or hiding from someone? Just give me a hint and this can stop."

"I swear to Primus we're not hiding anything!" the one in cuffs said. Powerline was unsatisfied and he jabbed the bot on the ground. The poor guy let out a yell, only this one was strained and tired. No more waiting, I stepped into the doorway and no one noticed. "Please! We just want to be left alone!"

"Yesyesyes, I get that, but why? Help me to understand that."

"They hate our war," I said, my weapon trained on Powerline's back. The femme shook her head and Powerline went very still, "Set down the… Prod."

"Your manners are atrocious," Powerline said, coy and superior as usual. His shock prod was still in hand, "One can go very far in life with simple courtesy."

"Like the people here asking you to stop?" I countered with a lot more anger than I had hoped. "I won't tell you again, set down the weapon."

"I don't think you'll shoot me in the back," he said with absolute certainty. So I shot the shock prod out of his hand, sending it in sparking pieces across the shack. "See? I knew it."

"Kneel down, hands on your head."

"No," Powerline said, very matter of fact like.

"I'm not joking, Powerline."

"And I am, suddenly?" I was getting an awful feeling in my gut, like he was about to do something very desperate. "I came here to do my bit for the Decepticons. Primus knows why you're here, but hey, I've been meaning to deal with you for a while now." I was about ready to ask why when he started to glow blue and crackle. Powerline kicked off of the poor bot on the ground and extended cables from his wrists, sparking at the end. He flung them at me and I brought my rifle up to block. One cable bounced off but the other wrapped around and he tried to pull it out of my hands. Again, he should have actually tried to work in that mine; I pulled him towards me and shoved the stock of my weapon into his face. That got an outcry from him and a stream of energon from his nose.

"Powerline, stop!" I shouted. He didn't listen and started to send electricity through the cables so I had to let go or get zapped. The rifle dropped, taking Powerline's arms down long enough for me to punch him square in the face. I felt the nose break and the trickle of energon became a flow. He stepped back and clutched his face and I tried once more to talk out of this. "Enough! I'm done hurting you. Just give up, I'll get you fixed up. We can just stop this."

"It'll stop when I stop it!" With that the cables flung out and around the femme's throat. He sent a current down that got a scream out of her, her back going ridged. He had to take his eyes of me to lash out at her, so when he looked back at me to see my axe mid-swing his manic grin was very out of place. Axe came down and sliced his arm off cleanly, the energon in the blade cauterizing the wound as it passed. The current stopped and the femme fell over, next to her friend. Powerline's grin turned to a grimace and he let out a yell, clutching what was left of his arm.  
I would have loved it if that took the fight out of him, but the look in his optics… I don't know what the war had done to him, but it wasn't good. He wanted me dead, wanted these poor uninvolved people dead and the only thing that would stop him would be death. Sick feeling in the spark started as he went for my gun and just ate at my core when I put the axe through his chest. I tried to go through his head to make the pain quick, but I had no knowing how well it would work in practice. Even then, sympathy pains.

"Oh Primus…" the femme murmured in horror mirroring what I was feeling. "Please.. Don't-"

"I won't," I said, hauling Powerline onto my back, picking up his arm and heading out side. I dug a grave for him and I had started to dig three more graves for those he had killed, some distance away out of respect, when I saw the two survivors leave, the mech barely able to stand and the femme watching. I asked her their names and she said them very quietly. Radiator, Datastream, and Fissile. Scientists and engineers trying to build their own way away. The highest caste save for the Senate itself, reduced to scavengers and refugees too scared of either side to seek their aid. They came to this part of Cybertron for the countless spare parts from as many battles. And both sides were paranoid, thinking they were here for a greater reason than refuge and escape.  
That was a week ago. Dragline must have found out I had killed my third former 'friend' took offense. I was ambushed on my return drive to Autobot lines and Dragline brought me to Xerra Core, beat the scrap out of me with lots of help, I found my will to fight or to survive that lead to me probably killing Crash-Dive in my escape and you three know the rest.


	3. Chapter 3

The trio of them stared at me in silence while I told my story. Very nice of them, Torrent always interrupted. Cloudnine was enthralled, arms wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees, watching me as though I were a play on stage. I also had Synthes' rapt attention. Only Enigma had a frown, thinking so hard I could practically hear him do so. I was about ready to take well deserved rest when he asked, "It can't be that simple."

"What, not enough for you, is it?" Synthes said, looking at his twin with a very annoyed expression, "I thought it was quite good."

"Not enough explosions, but the fighting was nice," Cloudnine said.

"It all actually happened, guys," I chimed in, "Real people died 'n that's not a good thing."

"Real people die all the time," Enigma said dismissively, "But to focus so much attention on one Autobot… Seems obsessive. Why?"

"Don't know. Never had a mind for vengeance. All I know is they're dangerous, close by 'n my friend is out there looking for me."

"You didn't actually mention your friend- Torrent was it?- in your story? How good of a friend can she be if-"

"She's my best friend," I said before he could finish saying something I would object to, "So tell me, am I going to regret meeting you, Enigma? You gonna make me pay for more dumb luck that endangered your family?"

Enigma tilted his head, optics looking into space. His expression wasn't as annoyed as I would have thought. In fact, he had been very neutral this whole time, except that first time we met and when he threatened me. He finally met my optics and shook his head, "No. They are nothing we haven't dealt with before."

"Still, we will be careful," Synthes said. Odd thing I was sure he was saying that because his brother wasn't going to. So for the next three days, the Twins went out to check out the happenings of Xerra Core. And for three days, they reported nothing out of the ordinary. Cloudnine always stayed behind, helping me recover and being a very uplifting presence. It was almost enjoyable, recovering and watching these three. Their bond is very close, though Enigma and Synthes would argue, they also acted in concert, almost like they were each other's second set of hands and optics. And then there was how Cloudnine and Engima would joke but also snuggle with each other every night. Never seen Conjunx Endura before, at least none so overt or enduring as those two. Those three days were wonderful days and I should have known things were going to take a sharp turn to hell soon enough.  
I was walking on my own when that day came. I got my left optic back too, but Cloudnine wanted to take it slow for the sake of my internal injuries. I wasn't going to argue with that, I was still sore as hell and my left arm wasn't quite bending as well as normal. Still, three days to heal this well, Cloudnine was a damn good medic.

"You're a damn good medic," I told her about midday. The Twins were off again, scouting for supplies and confident they wouldn't run into anyone. Cloudnine was busy helping me bend my arm back to full length.

"Aww, thank you," she said with a smile, "And you are a fantastic patient. You should see the Twins complain about every little thing once the fight's done. 'Oh C, I got a little cut on the bottom of my foot. It really stings.' Mech's been stabbed in the gut and that's his worry, I mean really."

"Well, if more bots were like you, we wouldn't have to worry about a war at all."

"Sure, but then I wouldn't have a job fixing up sweet sparks like you and them. Traveling around, meeting new people, having adventures. It's the life." Hard to argue with that kind of optimism. I think I was going to at least keep the conversation going for as long as I could, but then my arm by reflex retracted back in a bit of pain, and that caused us to part. Luck thing too as between us zipped two razor whistles that went and burst bits of the wall apart. Sniper fire through the front windows. On reflex, I went to grab Cloudnine and dive for cover. She had the same idea, so we wound up hugging each other as we hit the ground. I suddenly a little glad Enigma was off somewhere with Synthes as we untangled ourselves from our embrace, C much more smoothly and calmly than I. "Okay, someone's being a jerk."

"Breechload," I said, risking the barest peek to a landscape of ruined buildings, any one of which had our sniper, "Little fella was never good in a straight up fight but he sure can shoot straight."

"Not enough to hit us," Cloudnine said, morphing her arm into some kind of stun weapon, "I'm calling the Twins. They'll deal with this guy." She tapped the side of her helmet and waited for a moment. Outside and some distance away, there was the sound of a resounding explosion. I glanced at Cloudnine and she didn't look worried but she surely wasn't as set as she was, "Okay, no one is answering."

"They have their own problems, then," I said, "So do we keep our heads down or make a break out the back?"

"There really isn't a back to escape from. Side, maybe, but you're still not moving so well."

"So you have to go and get him." It wasn't really a question, just where the logic took me. Cloudnine was biting her lower lip, looking very torn. "I can last a little while on my own. It isn't like I want to join the fight. Go. And good luck, C."

"I didn't say I was going," she said, clearly weighing the options on her own.

"C… If the Twins get away from the explosion problem, we can't have them come back to a sniper problem we can't tell them about. Please, get that little squirt 'fore he hurts someone." She took in a breath and nodded. I drew my rifle and popped the barrel out of my window and started firing. That drew a couple of shots through the wall, but they were deflected away. Cloudnine made her dash out the door, transforming and heading towards the report of Breechload's sniping. Just to keep him busy, I crawled from window to window, popping off shots every so often without looking and that got a return of fire. Hopefully that will keep Cloudnine clear.  
There were some more explosions off in the distance but I took that as a sign the Twins were still alive. Whatever Dragline's plan was, he wasn't up for a full frontal assault. I doubt Breechload stumbled across the hide away, so they found us. Waited until the Twins were off somewhere so Blast Cap could distract them. So that's two unaccounted for, Dragline and-

"Spitfire!" came a roar from out in the street. Ignoring the risk of getting shot in the head, I popped up to look and Carbide was charging the building in vehicle mode. His top speed was nothing to sing about but his sheer mass would tear the wall down. So I got up and ran, Carbide crashing through with barely an effort. He transformed into the bot I used to know, a lot taller than me and three times as broad. I might have had a chance in a fair fight with Carbide, and a fair fight meant two good arms and Carbide calmer than he was just now. And though I did have my rifle in hand I had no desire to shoot him. I was done hurting these people so I tossed aside and he advanced. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Crash-Dive!"

"So he is dead, then?" I asked, knowing full well what my luck on that count was, "I'm sorry 'bout him. I'm sorry about all of them. I can't ever take back what I've done, but we can stop tryin' to kill each other. That's the only way we can move on."

"We'll move on once you're dead," Carbide growled. I knew he was going to go along that line of thought but still watching hope die hurts. Even slim hopes. Meanwhile, Carbide swung his fist like a hammer in a wide sweep. Would have caught me in the shoulder if I had just taken it. Only as much as I didn't want this fight, I didn't want to get killed that much more, so I bobbed back, his swing making a deep woosh in the air. Once again, I had the great inner debate on whether my life was worth fighting to the death over and I had to be settle it in a moment, only this time Carbide was moving faster than I could think. Dodging was all instinct while I doubted my will to fight until he caught me in a glancing blow. That sent me spinning into the wall left arm first, the pain reigniting and that left me more than a little distracted from Carbide readying to grab and tear me in half.  
Only he didn't. Once I got my eyes to focus I saw Carbide being brought to a knee and kicked in the head by my best friend in this whole mad world, Torrent. She was a little smaller than me and here she was felling a giant like it was nothing. I smiled as Carbide hit the floor with a groan and Torrent looked me in the optics and threw her arms around me. She then pulled back and though she cupped my face in one hand, those sharp blue optics stabbing me with a gaze that could kill a legion of Decepticons. "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

"Not really, no," I said, "Are you-"

"Don't ask if I'm okay. Are YOU okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, morally I've been questioning myself 'n physically my arm is messed up. But I did get to meet some nice folk."

"Then we can call them and tell them to break off so we can get out of here. I have a lot of thanks to give them personally."

"Their communications are a little messed up right now. Maybe we should stay until they can come back." That was my last input on the matter as Carbide had risen up and swatted Torrent out of the way. That got me mad enough to punch him in the face. I got some energon to spill but he was still a lot tougher than me. Carbide grabbed my bad arm and began to turn it. My return to the pain dimension was nigh as it felt like he was tearing my arm off. My vision was going as I tried to relieve the pain by kneeling. Nothing doing and Carbide kept twisting.

"Hey!" Torrent shouted and there was a slashing sound and Carbide yelping in pain. I brought my arm to my side and looked at Torrent, both of her short-swords now drawn as she slashed into Carbide's forearms. The gashes flowed a little with the energon as Carbide tried to bring his strength to bare by thrashing at Torrent. She wasn't having any of it; she spun and dashed around him while she casually sliced at his body. Energon spilled, but it was clear the wounds weren't deep or critical enough to take the fight out of the Decepticon. And as heavy as his swings were, they were too slow to make contact. She had him in the palm of her hand and the moment Carbide swung high and Torrent went low, driving one of her swords right through his left knee. He screamed and she twisted the blade. I felt a great sympathetic pain as she sheered his lower leg off. Energon spilled and Carbide continued to scream as he collapsed to the ground, Ren flicking the lifeblood off of her blade with a little distaste. "You're not going to hurt him again."

Carbide's vocal response was a hiss of pain. I was about to talk about say how _maybe_ she went a little overboard, but then Carbide looked at her with such rage the look alone caught me off guard. He grabbed her leg and swung her over his head like a club, bashing Torrent into the ground, knocking the swords out of her hands. And then he swung her back over. The floor cracked and Torrent let out a grunt. I had found my reason to fight. I made a move for my discarded rifle, hoping I could draw Carbide's attention enough to get him to release Ren. When he didn't even notice, I shouted, "Enough, Carbide! Put her down or I'll shoot!" He responded with more blind anger and another overhead swing of my friend, energon now coming out of her. So when he was about to make one more swing I shot him in the head. He had his head turned and my shot caught him right behind his left audio receptor. One more spark to bare on my soul, I withdrew the damnable weapon and knelt by Torrent.  
She was dented all to hell, energon coming from her nose and mouth and she optics shut. I took her into my arms, cradling her head in my bad arm, and said, "Ren, you can't go like this. I can't have killed him for nothing. I… Can't put that on you, that's unfair. Just… You got here, you found me 'n… This isn't right for you. Not when… I owe you. Come on, Ren, fight this. Wake up." For one of a handful of times, she actually listened to me. Torrent's optics opened and she rolled them around a bit, coughing and turning her head to spit energon out. When she finally got her focus back I smiled and said quietly, "Hey there. You're going to be just fine."

"Screw you," she mumbled, "Primus, this is embarrassing. Bruiser like him…"

"Nothing so bad as that. I'm the only one who saw it. 'N Carbide…. He's not hurtin' anyone anymore…."

"Carbide? You…" Torrent looked over at his fallen form. She knew all about them and how I felt about it. Having known each other so long, I doubt we had any secrets between us. "Spitfire, I'm so sorry."

"Not as sorry as I'd be if I couldn't have saved you," I said, looking around. Carbide had come alone, though I had know knowing what was keeping Dragline occupied. Unless he was helping Blast Cap with the Twins. The two of us were also in plain view of the windows Breechload had firing into. Had plenty of time to snipe us both, but he must have been scared off by Cloudnine. Those three _could_ handle themselves. "This place isn't secret anymore. Can you move?"

"Yes I can," she said with a great deal of zeal. She got out of my arms and stood up, stretching. Though she looked a little unsteady. "Now where are these new friends of yours?"

"Two are looking for you, the third had to go deal with Breechload," I said, "I'm betting she did good. We'll wait here for her and she'll tell the Twins we had to move and where to. Can you transform?"

"I'm fine," she said, forcing herself to be steady and then she transformed into her sleek little racer form, though it would have looked better without all the dents. "Is this Cloudnine a white and bright blue little thing?"

"That's her," I transformed and my left arm thanked me for it, "PRIMUS' CRANKSHAFT!"

"You shouldn't be transforming just yet!" Cloudnine said, rolling up and transforming, kneeling by my side and looking at me like I was an idiot, then she saw the destruction and Carbide's fallen form, "Oh… We can't stay here…"

"I know," I said once I knew I wouldn't be hissing or screaming it, "Can you call them. Meet them on the road?"

"We don't run," Cloudnine said.

"I do. I run far and fast, especially if I can avoid people being hurt or worse. Failed on that already." I had a sudden wish our alternate modes could express ourselves as well as when we had faces, "Cloudnine… You three have survived a lot on your own, I get that. Even if it's a slim possibility, I can't have you three being hurt on my spark. Could you?"

"I know you're trying to guilt me but I also know you're right. At least a little bit." She demonstrated that by holding her thumb and index finger very close to each other while she put her other hand to the side of her head, "Syn? If you guys are dead, you'd better tell me. Oh good! So… What was with the communications? Uh-huh." Cloudnine nodded and looked at the two of us, "Those explosions were concussive, they were messing with Synthes' ears but he's adjusted." Her eyes went to the side again as she listened. "So… Two bots, then? One is super gloomy with a trident bit and the other keeps whooping after the explosion. Wow…."

"Dragline and Blast Cap," I said.

"Engima is calling them Grumpy and Aftface," C said.

"I like this Enigma," Torrent said.

"I saw him first," Cloudnine smiled at Ren. "So… Syn, do you two think we can head out of town? Yes I do mean, 'Can Enigma walk away from this?'…. Is that a yes? I'm going to say it's a yes and we'll meet you on that bridge to the east, that one with the view. Buh-bye!" She beamed at us and transformed and sped off, "This way. Last one there is on rust duty for a month!"

"In your dreams!" Torrent said, laughing a bit and catching up with Cloudnine rather quickly. I almost smiled myself, but the fact at how fatal things had been kept that from happening. I followed the two speedsters eastward through the ruins of Xerra Core, driving up corkscrew paths to Cybertron's surface. Behind us I heard two engines chugging along as quickly as they would allow.

"Hey guys, where's the fire?" Synthes called over our radio.

"A race to avoid rust duty for a month," I said, "I think it's just a-"

"Oh scrap. En, hall aft!" The Twins started to rev their engines even more and were slowly catching up to me.

"Joke… Okay then," I said, giving in and gunning it. The two ahead were leading us to a bridge out of the city and into the wastes and wilds of Cybertron, but the sun setting in the far distance proved Cloudnine's claim correct, this bridge did have a very nice view. Cloudnine and Torrent crossed first, I crossed third and transformed, watching and waiting for the Twins. Their alternate forms looked built for heavy duty and rugged transport and were a little lacking on speed but they both caught up soon enough. Enigma transformed as he crossed.

"What are you standing there for?" he asked, looking back. I followed his gaze and saw two vehicles trying to catch up. "I've got this."

"Then I'm just here to watch."

"Fine… Crazy," Enigma muttered waiting for a time as Dragline and Blast Cap raced towards us. Enigma just clenched his fists, lifted them above his head and slammed the bridge into dust. I blinked to see if something was wrong with my vision. No… Enigma did just pulverize an eight-lane, two-mile long bridge with one blow. When he turned and saw whatever expression I had on my face he tilted his head a bit, nodded, "I was… Modified. Increased durability through armor along with kinetic energy absorption and redirection."

"So you can be hit, but not hurt," I said, wrapping my head around this a little more quickly than I probably should have, "and then you take that force and save it until… Something like that?"

"Yes," Enigma said, a little more shallowly than normal, walking from the city. I followed him, ignoring the angry shouts and pot shots that were missing by a fair distance. "Even though it has practical use in this stupidity of a war, I don't recommend it. Your hands will always feel off."

"So… Blast Cap's explosions were just building up in you? What's that feel like?"

"Coiled and angry. Like your friends," He looked at me, or through me, trying to look into my head maybe, "We kept two busy, C made friends with the tiny sniper, where are the other two?"

"Dead." I probably said that a little too quickly. "Turns out I killed Crash-Dive in my escape 'n Carbide… It was him or Torrent."

"Probably explains why they're so upset. I can kind of hear them from here and those two are very vulgar."

"Wouldn't one of your friends dying do that?" I said, looking back, "Only thing keepin' this war going, revenge and hate… I'm afraid its only going to end once we're all dead, somedays…."

"You might be right," Enigma said, doing little to lift my mood, "But war isn't supposed to have a happy or a clean ending."

"It's supposed to be terrible enough to avoid 'n fear," I said, "just no one seemed to remember that so long ago. 'N yet… No war means I'd still be mining. How can you be a little thankful for something so horrid?"

"Life doesn't stop. You find people to hold on to, to love, to hate. Same goes for good days and bad days coming and going. War doesn't change that, at least. We'd all have given up if we had nothing but carnage." Then he tilted his head at me. "Why am I saying this?"

"…Cause it's a conversation?" I offered, not really knowing where he was coming from with his question.

"But why to you?"

"I… Have one of those faces?" Again, very lost, "Maybe you think I need to hear the argument from outside my head. 'N I'm grateful for it. Thank you."

"Okay…. I'll just go with that." And Enigma walked off ahead of me and I took one last look at Xerra Core and its spires that caught the eye and made you forget about the world below them. It was officially my least favorite place on Cybertron.

The five of us spent a few days out in the wilds. Had to lay low to make sure we had lost Dragline and because there was one gigantic battle just over the horizon. We watched it quietly; hardly any of us making conversation while Cloudnine patched Torrent and myself up. Didn't even need to check over the Twins but one look from her and the start of a lecture and Enigma relented just to save her the breath. Very loving couple, it's written on their faces. Cloudnine got Torrent back into shape very quickly and both of them kept a close eye on me. I told them both I wasn't going to over tax my arm but they just nodded knowingly or rolled their optics. It's almost like they think I want to ruin it with fights against brawlers.

Then, end of the week I woke up early as usual and the three of them were sneaking off. I followed them and I know they all saw me but they kept moving. I called out, "Hey! Where are you three going?"

"We got a new job," Enigma said, "You two are grown bots, you can handle yourselves."

"Without saying good bye?"

"It's… Easier," Synthes said, though it looked like he didn't think so. "You two take care."

"You sure you don't want some extra hands with this? How am I gonna repay you three?"

"You don't owe us a thing," Enigma said, eyes looking at me rather than into or through me, "You were hurt and we couldn't leave you in the street. Just a courtesy, no need to make anything out of it.

"What if I wanted three new friends?"

"Oh… How sweet!" Cloudnine said, smiling.

"No, he's wrong headed," Enigma said to her, "He doesn't know or need to know. It's fine. Better in fact. We've done things even you wouldn't believe and I doubt you'd approve of. And we will continue that way. You two go off, fight your little war and forget about us."

"You give good orders for someone who hates soldering," Torrent said from behind me. She came to stand at my side, looking at the three of them like they were thieves in the marketplace, "If you ever find the need for help, we'll be there. You're good people, whatever you think of us."

"Hey… We don't think down on you two," Synthes said.

"No, just this war has destroyed so much," Cloudnine said, smile gone a little, "And we want no part of that."

"There's a line I can get behind," I said. I stepped forward, "Maybe someday I'll join you. But for now I got people who need my dumb aft. Take care." I held my hand out to the trio and one by one they took it. Torrent stepped up and they took her hand as well. Then the three of them transformed and drove off.

"Do you mean that?" Torrent asked after a while.

"What?"

"That you'd leave the Autobots to do whatever it is they do?"

"Well… I don't see it as leaving. Just a new start. Gonna have to do something once this war ends." I started to walk in the opposite direction they took.

"You don't even know what it is they do." She was giving me that look when I brought up odd musings.

"Well, they don't keep the war goin'. There's a fancier word for it… Perpetuate. They don't perpetuate the war."

"And… That's admirable," Torrent said, "I don't support it either, but if I don't fight, I die. You die. A lot of others die."

"I know. It's why we're not done yet." I looked at her. She was a very good looking bot. Don't know why she hung around with me. "At least I'm not. But someday I will. What about you?"

"Someone has to keep you alive." She smiled and I nodded.

"I guess so."

 **Author's note**  
This story features three characters, Enigma, Synthes and Cloudnine, that belong to my friend, known on deviantART as Towerte. I thank her for letting me write them.


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